Global Issues

Malawi

• Source country for men, women, and children subjected to forced labor and sex trafficking.

• Malawian victims of sex and labor trafficking have also been identified in South Africa, Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, and parts of Europe.

• Transit point for foreign victims and a destination country for men, women, and children from Zambia, Mozambique, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe.

• At local bars and rest houses, owners coerce girls and women, who work at the establishments, to have sex with customers in exchange for room and board.

• Brothel owners lure rural girls with promises of nice clothing and lodging. Girls are charged high fees for them and coerced into prostitution in order to pay debts.

• 22.1% of women in Malawi report intimate partner physical violence in their lifetime.

• 13.4% of women report sexual intimate partner violence in their lifetime.

• 5.3% report abuse during pregnancy.

• Law criminalizes rape with life imprisonment or death.

 

Sources: UN Women Violence against Women Prevalence Data:  Surveys  by  Country 2011; U.S. Department of State 2010 Human Rights Report, U.S. Department of State Trafficking in Persons Report 2011